UN Treaty Threatens Families

PURCELLVILLE, Va.—While a United States Senate committee considers a dangerous United Nations treaty, parental rights advocates are crying foul.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was signed by President Obama in July of 2009, but it has not received the necessary two-thirds approval from the United States Senate for ratification. Recently, Obama has pushed the Senate to ratify the CRPD, and the treaty is now scheduled for its first official action in the Senate on Thursday.

Michael Farris, co-founder and chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), is scheduled to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and highlight the concerns of parents across the county.

“We all want to show our love and care for people with disabilities,” Farris said. “This treaty, however, is not the way to do it. This treaty will give United Nations and government agents, not parents, the authority to decide all educational and treatment issues for disabled children. All of the rights that parents have under both traditional American law, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act will be undermined by this treaty.”

J. Michael Smith, president of HSLDA, agrees, “The question is, who should make critical decisions regarding the care and raising of children who have disabilities? Their parents or United Nations social workers?”

The CRPD, if ratified by the U.S. Senate, would transform the parent-child relationship by establishing a new legal standard for dealing with children with disabilities: the best interests of the child standard. The CRPD states in Article 7: “In all actions concerning children with disabilities, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.”

“Parental rights will be eviscerated by the mandatory application of the ‘best interest of the child’ standard,” said Farris. “If parents think that private education is best for their child, the CRPD gives the government the authority and the legal duty to override that judgment and keep the child in the government-approved program that the officials think is best for the child.”

“There is no need for the Senate to ratify the CRPD, as our nation’s state and federal laws already protect our precious loved ones with disabilities. It is outrageous that U.S. senators would support a treaty that surrenders U.S. sovereignty and family integrity to unelected U.N. bureaucrats.”

The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is scheduled to hold a hearing on the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on Thursday, July 12.

Home School Legal Defense Association is a nonprofit advocacy organization established to defend and advance the constitutional right of parents to direct the education of their children and to protect family freedoms. Visit us online at www.HSLDA.org and at www.GenerationJoshua.org